Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Trading 1.2% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) shot up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $362.63 and last traded at $359.13. 8,523,820 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 8,452,062 shares. The stock had previously closed at $354.91.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Materials

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Materials this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 / fiscal Q1 results beat expectations and management gave aggressive forward guidance (CEO projected ~20% calendar‑year revenue growth and raised Q2 outlook), which sparked the rally. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Several firms bumped up price targets and ratings after the results — notable raises reported (Needham and others), backing upside to current consensus and supporting further upside momentum. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are increasingly framing AMAT as a primary beneficiary of the AI-driven “Giga‑cycle”; TD Cowen and other shops have raised targets (e.g., Cowen to ~$450), reinforcing buy‑side conviction. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader industry coverage highlights AMAT’s leadership among equipment suppliers in the current multi‑year chip investment wave — a positive thematic tailwind but already largely priced into many forecasts. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management scheduled investor conference appearances/fireside chats — useful for additional color on demand and margin trajectory but not an immediate catalyst on its own. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Published short‑interest reports show anomalous “0 shares / NaN” figures for mid‑February — appears to be a data error and does not indicate a meaningful short squeeze. Investors should rely on standard data sources for positioning metrics. (data entries)

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AMAT. DZ Bank raised Applied Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley set a $420.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Twenty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $363.04.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $296.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $238.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $285.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.70.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total value of $952,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 150.0% during the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 48.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Company Profile

Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.

Applied Materials’ offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.